GULLANE, Scotland — If Gene Sarazen hit ‘the shot heard round the world’ back in ye day, then Robert MacIntyre clattered the wood that rang roon the Renaissance.
The stout-hearted Scot’s thrilling 3-wood to the closing hole of the final round of the Genesis Scottish Open here in East Lothian was a corker for the ages.
It set up a birdie in a 64 which gave him the clubhouse lead on 14 under and pushed him to the brink of becoming the first home player to win the Scottish Open since Colin Montgomerie in 1999.
Golf, of course, can be a cruel auld game. Heartbreak, unfortunately, arrived in the shape of Rory McIlroy who charged home with a birdie-birdie blitz to pinch the title by a single stroke.
“I thought it might be enough, but that’s what happens when you are playing against the best in the world, eh?,” said MacIntyre of the one that got away.
The Oban lefty can be rightly proud of his endeavours. He forced McIlroy, widely regarded as the best player on the planet, to dig into his vast reserves of talent and winkle out a brace of wonderful birdies to win. In those last knockings, the Scot’s brilliance was only undone by McIlroy’s own majesty.
“Look, I’m absolutely delighted with the way I played,” said a philosophical MacIntyre in the aftermath. “It’s a sore one to take just now because it is a dream as a Scotsman to win a Scottish Open. I’ll never forget this day. I was praying and hoping it was going to be the one. And it would have been one hell of a celebration.
“I’m absolutely gutted just now, but I take my hat off to Rory. What a finish. To me, he’s probably the best in the world. When he needs it, he knows how to do it and he did it here.”
Rory McIlroy and Robert MacIntyre embrace after the 2023 Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club in United Kingdom. (Photo: Andrew Redington/Getty Images)
The approach from over 200 yards to the 18th, from a fortunate lie on a flattened down walkway, underlined MacIntyre’s bold sense of adventure as he reveled in the cut-and-thrust at the sharp end.
“I just changed club because I thought the rescue club can’t get there,” he said of the switch to the three-wood. “It was 218 yards and I thought just make par and see what happens.
“I sliced the three-wood to take some distance off it and it came out absolutely perfectly. It was probably one of the best shots I have ever hit in my life.”
Grew up dreaming of hitting shots like this. It wasn’t to be today…
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